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Middens and Microphones: Podcasting as Digital Public Outreach in Archaeology

The podcast as a communicative medium continues to rise in popularity as an opportunity for individuals to express themselves in similar ways to traditional radio and television. Critically, though, the recording of a podcast does not need a full studio for production. Rather, an individual possessing a microphone, free editing software, and time can create an audio show that is then uploaded to the Internet for people to download and listen to. Although podcasts can be found via standard web searching, they are also often listed in podcast directories, such as iTunes, Sticher, Google Play, and Miro (Ortega 2015), and hence are easily discoverable through both desktop browsers and mobile apps, making it simple to subscribe to multiple shows. The iTunes store, owned by Apple, is a particularly popular directory: a podcaster must submit a special kind of link, called an RSS feed, to Apple and have it approved. An RSS feed is a dynamic link that lets anyone attached to it know when an update is made to a web page—in this case, a listing of podcasts. Once the podcast is accepted to the directory, various search engines can access it and allow people to search by name or category (chosen by the podcasters themselves).

Chris Webster is an archaeologist, author, podcaster, business owner, and archaeo-Futurist. His passion is public education, outreach, and making commercial field archaeology more efficient – raising the quality of life for archaeological field technicians. Chris, when he is not running his archaeologist firm, is out podcasting. He has nine podcasts and one is a daily podcast. That is a lot of commitment for sure.